Our Oceanside Peace
by Scepidilionz
Summary: Many years after the main story, the walls have managed to find peace and defend themselves. In a new era, their home is under attack again. The story follows the children of some of the main cast in their new war to defend Paradis.
1. It Begins

The Ackermann siblings pushed passed each other, all rushing towards where their father stood, looking up at some tapestry on the wall. "Bernard, no fair!" Gloria, reached out to try and pull him back, Siegfried used the distraction to push ahead, sticking his tongue out.

"Let me go!" Bernard struggled, but Gloria's mighty grip restrained him. "Hey!"

"You started it when you tried to trip me!" She started racing towards her other brother, who was already halfway to homebase, "Get back here!"

"Bleh!" He turned to face herm jogging backwards, sticking out his tongue.

"Watch out!" Bernard shouted from several meters back, as Siegfried collided with their checkpoint. Gloria stopped in her tracks to bring her hands to her mouth, gasping.

Dad was pissed.

"Stop." Was all he said, helping his son up from the ground. His children stiffened, standing straighter, "You could hurt yourself, or break things. And then someone will have clean clean up your mess. Don't be an idiot." He opened Siegfried's mouth once the teen was on his feet, inspecting for damage. Thankfully Siegfried had only bitten his cheek during the fall. "Go see your mother, shoo." Levi began to herd his young ones through the massive doors behind them. He had been waiting for them, dinner was about to be ready.

Bernard looked over his shoulder, up at what his father had been staring at. The Ackermann family crest was on the wall there, blue and gold. He never really paid much attention to it, but Levi looked at it a lot, as if it reminded him of something. The crest bore the same wings of freedom that the scout regiment did, and wall Maria's peaks along the bottom of the crest signified that they were a military family. Four rose buds bloomed on the vines that were drawn onto the wall, the fourth military family that protected the Southernmost point of Paradis island. The window below the crest held a phenomenal view of an ocean sunset.

The long drawn out dining hall held an impressive wooden table, meant to feed at least thirty people at a time. Their parents would hold a military dinner here once a year, each of the families did, in a tradition to maintain the bonds that had been built during the great war. Paradis had never seen such prosperous times, or so the stories went. The youth never could tell the difference between an exaggerated war story and historical fact.

Navy and gold tablecloth only covered the last section of the massive table, where the family had intentions to eat tonight. Hanji had her nose in a book, steam from her food would briefly fog up her glasses. She put the book down with a smile when she heard footsteps, "Hey! What have you done today?" She and Levi mostly had official business to handle during the day, and so the children had reign of the castle for training and learning. A lot was expected of their future, Levi and Hanji invested in their children, giving them as many opportunities to learn and grow was possible. They didn't have war and desperation to nurture them into the next generation of leaders.

"Bernard won't train with us." Siegfried complained, the one blonde of the family could never stop reading. Of course, Hanji supplied many tempting books.

"You two are too rough." The oldest began munching on his food, "I don't want to. Mom said I don't have to."

"You're just afraid of losing to your little brother and _sister._ " Gloria teased, pulling herself a slice of bread. Levi sat down quietly, listening to the quarrel. Thunder clapped, and she jumped, "Don't even laugh." but of course, she was met with snickers, "Come on!"

"At least I'm afraid of what can actually hurt me." Bernard took a sip of evening tea, he had been born to a family of monsters. Levi and Hanji seemed to zone out as Gloria began threatening Bernard with a soup spoon. Siegfried watched the commotion while enjoying his dinner, his siblings never ceased to entertain him.

"Hanji." Levi said, placing his palms on the table, flat. Their children didn't seem to notice anything, "Do you feel that?" His eyes looked out to the coming storm, surely his senses were deceiving him. His wife lifted her glasses, in an attempt to think. She stood suddenly, earning everyone's eyes around the room.

"Mom?" Siegfried asked, Levi was still watching her, waiting for a confirmation.

"Siegfried. Call Armin, tell him to deploy here immediately. Gloria, Bernard, arm the cannons. Soldiers will meet you soon." Levi was already up, grabbing a gun from the wall. Hanji reached back and tied her hair up, their children stared at them baffled.

They suddenly realised they had children on their hands. Not soldiers.

"Hanji. Go." Levi motioned, and she kissed each of their foreheads goodbye, wishing them safety, before pinning her cape to her shoulders and rushing out. "Listen to me. We are in danger. You need to do as we say-"

"Mom!" Gloria rushed out, following Hanji. Levi didn't stop her, Hanji could speak to Gloria more easily.

"Boys." Levi amended, "You need to be armed and ready to go. Just like your training. But you are not to leave this castle unless I come and get you, got it?" Bernard nodded, but Siegfried still seemed confused. They had been eating dinner only ten seconds ago. "Siegfried. We are under attack." He seemed to wake up a little, but not by much. He had so many questions on his mind, none of them immediately answerable.

Levi took each other their hands, leading them towards the armory, where they could get ready. Their pace started off slowly as Levi tried to wake them up, and escalated to a run once adrenaline kicked in. Hanji and Gloria had already disappeared.

"Dad?" Siegfried's voice cracked as the made the turn to the armory. He was looking out the window. Levi flew in, having his updated 3DMG on in almost an instant. Bernard was struggling to suit up, but he would get it.

"Siegfried, get ready!" Levi threw a set of leather straps at him.

"Dad." His son pointed, "There's really a giant person over there. It's real."

Levi stopped, even though he didn't have the time to. He could hear the soldiers that the castle also housed readying for battle as well in the floor below. "Free." Siegfried turned towards him, "You are going to be safe. Everyone is here to protect the three of you." The boys nodded, now standing beside each other, depending on each other for emotional support. "I need to go-"

"You can't be serious." Bernard said, pointing to the growing numbers of titans in the distance, "You really can't fight that!" Titans were such a thing of the past to them, like dinosaurs.

"I can." Levi responded, "So can Hanji, and everyone else who fought in the war. Gloria probably could too. It's what you have trained for too." He was all ready to go, he just needed to say goodbye. "Stay safe, I love you." He hugged them both, "This will be over in no time, don't worry." They hadn't raised them for this. They were raised for peace.

As he parted with them, he could hear Bernard help Siegfried fuss with his straps, and holster their guns. They were mustering up their courage.

Levi found Hanji on her horse, she had prepared Levi's as well. Hanji had tears in her eyes, ready to ride out to meet the small house of soldiers that were permanently stationed here. "Did Gloria see you?" Levi asked, swinging up onto his horse, and the pair began to rush off.

"Yes." She nodded, "She wants to help, I told her no." Hanji looked over to him, "I'm scared for them, Levi. They're scared." It had been a decade since they rode out with intent to kill like this. "People are going to die." Especially those who had joined their ranks in the last ten years, those who were more proficient with guns than with swords.

"Fake it." Levi said, their platoon coming into view. It had been less than five minutes since Levi heard the first footsteps on the edge of the island, "We have to be brave now." His words did not comfort her. Perhaps they would have many years ago. But now she was only thinking of three scared children, seeing titans for the first time in their life, watching their parents go off to a seemingly impossible battle. "We've killed them all before, Hanji. Backup will be here soon."

She nodded, eyes returning to the horizon. The titans looked bigger than she remembered. "Our parents weren't alive to worry about us. Levi. We have to make sure they don't lose us." All they had wanted was to raise normal children, children who had the opportunity to be kids and learn the right way. Maybe they had been too successful in keeping them safe. Of course they had been combat trained, but were they prepared?

"They won't." Protecting Hanji was his priority, defeating titans came in as a close second. He wouldn't admit it, but he was terrified too. He had so much to lose.

Mikasa lead the eastern platoon that was closing in on the Ackermann castle, a place she had seen so many times, but never under the ravages of battle. "You got married here." She said over a handheld radio, which was in communication with only one other device.

A voice from the other end replied, "I know. It's going to be weird fighting here."

The titans didn't seem to notice them yet, but Mikasa could see nine of them. She signalled out for some of the soldiers following her command to split off to the west, to help prevent titans from escaping towards farms further inland. "Armin, I'm going in." She said over the radio, firing a green flare. Shortly after, she slid off of her horse, hooks flying towards many artificial poles that dotted the landscape, giving purchase to their 3DMG. The Ackermann castle, like each of the military family homes, had some sort of landscape modification to facilitate combat. In this case, where trees were more sparse and short due to the location on the coastline, wooden beams had been installed every twenty meters to give soldiers additional places to grapple.

"Mikasa." The voice spoke into her earpiece, "Godspeed."

The first two kills came naturally, but slow. Now that she was up here, she could see that the infestation was much worse, about fifty titans. She swung low to the ground for a third smaller kill, and launched herself far into the air, taking a fourth titan as she went. Now that she was high in the sky she scanned the horizon for any abnormals. "Armin, two abnormals just to the south of you." Armin's reply was too fuzzy to make out, they were barely within range of each other, but he sounded alright and it seemed like he got the message. His green flare launched about a mile away, on the other side of the castle.

She used a similar technique to launch herself back up again, this time to locate Hanji and Levi's platoon. They were directly engaged with titans about one hundred meters from the castle, a close margin. She would focus on eliminating the titans directly between them, and get to them to help.

She got into the swing of things shortly after, she and her squad had a dozen titans down within ten minutes, with a few stragglers to clean up. "Hanji is alive." Armin confirmed, "Made contact. She's on her way to protect the device. She will radio when she arrives there."

"Heard." Mikasa replied as she landed on her horse, covered in steaming titan blood. There were no titans in the immediate area, so she took a sip of water and began leading her mount to move westward toward the castle. Soldiers who had rode to the coastline signalled that no titans had remained there with two gold flares. Armin had orchestrated a well organized defence, he was doing well as the new commander of the scout regiment.

She rode for a while without encountering titans, her squad had coalesced back into formation after defeating the stragglers. When they were able to make contact with a few more, troops from the castle were already engaging them. Mikasa swooped up, looking for anyone who may need help. "Gloria?" She squinted. Surely her eyes were deceiving her. No, it wasn't just Gloria, it was all three! A titan, seemingly feeled on the ground, reached its hand up to grab one of them!

.Armin's words echoes through his head. That they would be safe, that everyone had fought titans before. But as Siegfried watched soldiers zip through the skies, slashing at flesh, he knew that Armin was only partially right. He watched a man have the life squeezed out of him by a man eating beast, _yours is the first generation of our people to grow up without the fear of titans,_ Armin had told him over the landline. That was around twenty minutes ago, the first of the soldiers should be arriving shortly.

Bernard slumped in a chair, listening to the sounds of battle outside their home. He was still having trouble understanding everything. "Who is attacking us?" He looked up at his siblings, "Do you two have any clue?"

"The titans?" Gloria shrugged, Siegfried put more thought into the question.

"The titans couldn't just appear here. Someone brought them here." He leaned into the wall, staying away from the window. He looked back out to the fight, the soldiers hadn't allowed the titans to advance at all. Siegfried pulled at the straps around his abdomen, his 3DMG chafing him uncomfortably, occasionally his father would zip in and out of view.

Gloria nodded, feeling antsy. Why had Hanji sent her back in here? She was hardly a child anymore, and the screams that would leak through the walls every couple of minutes as another titan claimed victory made her viscerally uncomfortable. She had to do something. "What can we do to help? Siegfried, there has to be something."

The middle child found his siblings staring at him for guidance, "Um…" He scowled, looking towards the window to avoid eye contact. "It's hard to say, I don't know what's going on out there." The window view only provided a thin slice of the confrontation, "We could get a better view from the south watchtower." There were grunts of agreement.

"Let's go, be quiet." Bernard opened the study door, motioning for his siblings to file through. He studied the trouble on Gloria's face, "Don't worry, we can do something." She nodded in response and forced a brief smile, tucking black frizzy hair behind her ear, which she normally wore in a chic bob. Siegfried's mind was spinning, his fingers resting just below his lip. Good.

The building shook, and a loud crash came from the direction of the west tower. The trio stopped in their tracks, their home was being destroyed! Gloria took off, "Stop! It's too dangerous!" Siegfried called out, but Bernard grabbed his hand, telling him to be quiet and dragged him off after their sister. "We have to stop her. This is for real Bernard. We could get hurt."

"We also could die." Bernard looked down at the redhead, her looked so much like Hanji. "We could lose our parents. Some of our teachers are probably already dead. Our house could be completely destroyed." Another scream from in the distance, someone calling for help from the battlefield. "There's a lot we could lose here Siegfried, are we going to do something about it?"

Siegfried shook his hand free, keeping pace on his own. "Fine. But we save our own skins first." Mom and Dad told them to stay safe, they could still do that and help. He gazed at his older brother, turning the corner to see Gloria trying to help a housekeeper out of the rubble. She had caught a titans eye in the room she had been hiding in, one had wandered a bit too close to the castle. Both brothers rushed in to help, but Gloria and Bernard didn't realise the woman was already dead. "Guys."

Bernard strained to lift a large chunk of stone, barely lifting it, "Why aren't you helping?"

He put his hand on top of Gloria's, "She's dead."

"No she's not, she was just-" Gloria looked down at the woman who had only seconds ago been pleading for help. "Oh my god." Her brown eyes fogged up, in shock that someone had just died right in front of her. She had been the only one who heard her last words.

Bernard dropped the rock, "We have to go. We can't-"

"I know." She pushed herself off the ground, her palm resting in a small pool of blood as she did. She stared at it for a moment, "Someone did this." Her twin brother reached in to hug her, "Siegfried, why…?" Why was this happening? What had they done? What were they being punished for?

Bernard watched over the two, making sure that everything was safe. The rubble blocked their path, they would have to cut through the courtyard instead of moving through the building. His eyes caught movement, "We have to go, now." He swooped in to grab them, but whatever he had seen had also seen them. All four pairs of eyes were now aware of each other.

Siegfried felt Gloria's frame shaking next to him as they stared up at the titan. It was coming towards them. He quickly looked to Bernard, who was now frozen in shock. His mind went blank as fight or flight reeled to make a decision, when he heard Gloria's gas canisters fire off behind him, as she whizzed off through a hole in the ceiling to engage the titan. Bernard snapped back into reality, seeing her fly off so suddenly. He looked to his brother before flying off after her, leaving Siegfried on the floor. He wasn't going to be left behind, so he took a deep breath and flew off. When he cleared the room, he saw that the titan already lay crumpled on the ground, Gloria examining it, her blades covered in steaming blood. It was a small one, only four meters.

Bernard shortly landed beside her, He reached out to touch the titan, finding it surprisingly hot. "Wow, I can't believe it." he lifted one of the titans limbs. Siegfried began investigating as well when he had joined them. "You killed it?" Bernard asked, looking at Gloria.

She nodded, but then starting shaking no rapidly, as the titan prung back to life, grabbing Bernard, who had been closest to its arm. "Bernard!" She reached out, the titan sat up, bringing Bernard to his mouth. "Mikasa!" The woman brought the titan down, catching Bernard in her arms, and setting him gently on the ground. There were no other titans, so she stood there flabbergasted, waiting for one of them to offer an explanation. There was no way Levi and Hanji told them that they could fight, not that Mikasa supported their verdict.

Siegfried was looking Bernard over for injuries, he had only been in the titan's grip very briefly. "I'm so sorry. This is all my fault." Gloria said, "It was dumb, we shouldn't have come out here." It was disheartening to see Gloria this way, but Mikasa knew the shock her mind was learning to handle so rapidly. Gloria wasn't a pushover, like almost all Ackermans before her. "We're not ready for combat." She looked up to Mikasa, who would offer lessons to the three of them on occasion. She and Armin had been there their whole lives.

"No, you are." Mikasa had seen the chunk Gloria took out of the nape of that titan, it was as good as any other soldier, clean and narrow. "You just need support." Anyone would fail going into battle with titans alone. She had fought a war when she was their age, she just had the proper guidance. Some of them were still standing after all these years. "Gloria, you can come with me. You'll join my unit. Siegfried, could you take Bernard further inland to meet up with Hanji?"

The boys nodded, the stables were on the other side of the castle, opposite the battle. Gloria furrowed her brow, knowing that Mikasa wanted to teach her, but truly not believing herself to be ready. Mikasa spoke over the radio, "I found Bernard, Siegfried, and Gloria. They're alive and well. Gloria is with me, and I'm sending the other two to join the commander."

"Good, glad they're okay. But I'm the commander." Armin said, he had been for two and a half years, which didn't feel like very long during times of peace.

Mikasa smiled, enjoying the joke. She looked to the children with a sense of nostalgia, they wouldn't have to struggle like those in the past did. "Are you armed?" All of them nodded, hands falling to pairs of guns and swords, all standard military issue of the day. "Hanji isn't far." She helped them up, "Do you know the waterfall, where we all would go fishing?" More nods, "She's heading there."

They exchanged hugs. Everyone felt much more at ease, having seen each other. Mikasa helped Gloria battle-check her equipment, and saw the boys off. This was their first of many battles.

 **Thank you for reading!**

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	2. Don't Die

Rain poured down onto the soldiers and the horses, mud beginning to cake on their hooves and ankles, "Why haven't you told them that you don't want to be a scout yet?" thunder clapped, Bernard held onto his injured elbow, bright bruises beginning to appear where he had been gripped by the titan. He was lucky not to have broken any bones. "I mean, could you do this again? Are you willing to throw yourself into chaos like this?" The soldiers who were fighting and dying here had minute of notice before they entered combat, fighting for their lives. It could happen again at any other moment in the future.

Siegfried shook his head, "I don't know what I want." Scouts did little exploration at this point, they were the titan-fighting elites of the military. The other branches focused on engaging other humans, guns had become their standard weapons. He wasn't suited for fighting like that, he wanted to fight with his head. He wanted to fight to keep the people he cared for safe. The people he loved were all military, so where did he belong?

"Nah, I want out of here." Bernard said, holding onto the reins with his better hand, "I'll do what I have to, for our family, but I'm done being cooped up here." He didn't know how to explain it, but he felt as if there were so much more to see, so many more ways to experience his fragile human life. Why simply chose this one, because he was born into it? "Ah, this is my exit." He motioned his head towards a watch tower, "Are you sure you're okay with me leaving?" MIkasa had proposed an alternate scenario for Bernard, whose injuries were creeping up on him. Armin had arranged for doctors to come down south, before they even rode off for battle, anticipating injuries and dead.

"Yeah, go to Armin. You're injured, they can keep you better safe in the back lines there." From there he would go to the walls for medical treatment, to make sure there weren't any more unexpected injuries. Cannons had stopped going off, so the soldiers were likely just cleaning up titans, or the titans were no longer close to the castle. Either was a good scenario. "I think we are safe now." What was Gloria doing right now, with Mikasa? He couldn't wait to see their mother, he had so many questions to ask, questions that were perfect for the previous Commander of the scout regiment.

"See you when we get home." Bernard smiled, slowly veering off. They waved at each other, before falling out of distance. He was alone now.

But now Siegfried was thinking, why did he want to be a scout? The life of combat wasn't for him, so what was left? Could he be in the military as someone so averse to violence? He hated blood, especially when it was outside of the human body. It made him queasy. It didn't seem natural.

He and his siblings had practice horseback riding here, as well as pretty much everything else they knew. These rolling green hills to the north of their home had many memories, as well as this one now. His peaceful universe had been destroyed by someone, probably one of his parent's old enemies. Levi had said there were many bridges they had to burn to create their sanctuary, and all of their old battle scars… their past had been a bloody one. How did they keep sane?

Eachother, friends, and family. Their bonds had kept them alive during times of war. If you didn't have the self preservation to keep yourself alive, you cared enough about the person next to you to keep _them_ safe, and they felt the same about you. No one wanted to survive that war, but we all wanted to make sure our loved ones did. Armin had taught him that, his hollow emotionless eyes in stark contrast to the emotion he had in his voice at the time. It had been nothing but pain.

He approached the cluster of trees that surrounds the waterfall, feeling a pit drop in his stomach. Something wasn't right, nothing about this situation was right. If all of his presuppositions were correct, that the titans were brought here by someone, likely one of his parents' old enemies, where were they?

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm here for a radio. There is no serum here." It was his mother's voice, she was talking to someone, her voice tense. "There is only a long range radio." Siegfried felt his heart rate spike, someone else was here, and they weren't friendly.

He got off his horse, he had to do something. Mom! He was careful not to make any noise, he wished he had paid more attention to Jean when they were learning how to track!

Bringing his gun into his hand, he followed his mother's voice, and hid behind a tree when she came into view. Hanji had her hands raised beside her head, another woman was pointing a gun at her. He had found the enemy insurgent. To make a good shot, he would have to get closer.

"I don't believe you. Why would they send _you_ to radio?" She was blonde, and had a pretty voice, and couldn't be much older than Bernard. If she wasn't pointing a gun at Hanji, he would have said that she was kind of cute.

"Because it's the plan, it always has been. I also only have one working eye, and a limp." How good would she really be on the battlefield these days? Too many years of consistent injuries held her down. The young woman seemed to pity her for a moment, good. Hanji had become an expert at cracking people's heads over the years, she could do it to this runt too. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen, does it matter?" She seemed to be thinking about something, planning her next move. Siegfried continued to sneak around, it almost seemed like Hanji knew he was there and was creating a diversion.

"I was hoping we would have stopped sending our youth into battle decades ago." It was pitiable, humans sending their own children into suicide missions.

"We never will. Not when people like me are breed for it, and people like your children." She pulled out her radio suddenly.

Siegfried had paused to catch his breath behind a tree, when the section next to his ear exploded, a bullet whizzing right passed his head."Found one of them." Well, he had been discovered. He popped out from behind the tree, firing the best shot he could based on where he guessed the enemy was. No surprise it was a miss.

"Hi mom." He coyly stepped out, Hanji let out a sigh of relief, he hadn't been injured. But she was surprised that her backup was her own son. He had another shot in his gun left, thanks to recent advancements they no longer had to reload after every shot. Did their enemy know that?

"Hey honey." She tried not to panic, knowing full well who she was after. They had come for vengeance, and the Ackerman name stood at the top of their hit list. Judging by his expression, his siblings were alright. Could she get to him to shield him in time? Not if he was shot at.

"Come with me, and I won't shoot your son."

Hanji wasn't dumb, she knew how this would go. She would surrender, be restrained, and then she would shot him anyway. Hanji would then be held on condition of Levi's surrender, "No, I'm sorry." Siegfried looked to his mother, his eyes pleading for direction on what to do. He had gotten her into a worse situation.

A voice buzzed over the insurgent's radio, but neither of them could make out what it said. "Sorry buddy." She raised her gun towards Siegfried, and Hanji bolted for her son. When the blonde saw movement, the weapon turned towards Hanji. Siegfried raised his weapon, firing at her, but someone zoomed by on 3DMG as the two guns went off. Both sides spilled blood on the floor. "Mom!" Siegfried rushed over to Hanji, who held her left shoulder tightly, blood beginning to stream out from underneath her palm.

Hanji took a knee, "Don't worry." She smiled up at him, their enemies having vanished. Siegfried had made a good shot, judging by the amount of blood on the floor. "She almost got me." It was alright, her son was safe. Everything would be fine then.

Hanji leaned against a tree, "Free. I need you to listen to me. You can help me." This broke him out of his adrenaline induced daze, "There's a radio, behind the waterfall, and an emergency kit. Could you help me get there? I'm going to need you to help me get this bullet out." She spoke directly, clearly. Siegfried wouldn't understand her if she said it any other way, it had to be clean and dry.

He nodded, seeming ready. "I can help. Tell me what to do." He still felt like he was going to vomit, having danced so closely with death. And… his mother was bleeding. Blood. He covered his mouth, but Hanji pulled his arm away, letting him vomit a foot away. He was going to need an empty stomach.

They walked together towards the roaring waterfall, they would have to get through the waters. "Focus on me." Hanji said, shifting her feet slowly across a ledge, grabbing a branch tightly with her good arm, "Just keep going." Siegfried didn't dare look at the rocks below, why were they hiding a radio here?!

Hanji grabbed him, using sheer strength to swing him suddenly around her, through the waters and into a damp cave. He stumbled onto all fours, believing he was going to fall. When he gathered himself, Hanji was already making her way further into the dark cave, light trickling in from the other side of the water. "Ma, what is this place?"

She looked over her wounded shoulder, more blood was coming out now, she tore more of it when she had swung him. "It's… a secret. We hide very important things here." Every word she spoke was quieter than the last, "Things from the war." Her fingers traced along the cave wall, searching for familiarity. Thankfully she had a piece of glowing titan crystal with her. Siegfried was following her now, startled by every sudden drop of water. "Are you scared?"

"Yes." He admitted, "You're hurt, I'm the only one who is here to help, and someone…" He couldn't bare not to know what was happening any longer, "I can't do this, I need you to tell me why this is happening? What did you and dad do that was so bad?"

"We killed." Hanji said, coming to a small stream within the cave. She rested on her knees, "We killed many, many people, because they had killed so many of ours. Because we had no choice, because we had to survive. It was our retribution. I don't regret it, not most of it." She pulled a box out of the mud, looking up to him now. "Behind you, on the wall, that's the-" She was suddenly taken over by convulsions, "Poison."

Siegfried rushed in to lay her on the ground, laying her on her side as she convulsed, "Mom?!" He couldn't breathe, this couldn't be happening. There was poison in the bullet. This had been an assassination.

He rushed up to the radio, turning it on and rushing back over to her. "Hello? Can anyone hear me?" There was no response, "This is Siegfried Ackerman, mom- Hanji is hurt, she was shot. We need help." He pleaded, waiting for someone to respond.

No one would. Her convulsions stopped as she slipped out of consciousness, he had to do something or she would die. He had to get the bullet out. He fumbled with the locks on the box that Hanji had pulled out of the stream, and got it open. Inside he found an entire surgical suite of tools, as well as another locked box inside. This smaller box was locked with a combination lock. This shouldn't be hard. He had seen bullets removed from people before, he could do this.

He slipped on a provided pair of gloves, taking out clamps. He felt his mother's shoulder for the bullet, it was pretty deep in there, wedged in her behind her collarbone. "I'm so sorry." He whispered to her unconscious form, putting the clampers inside, if she were conscious she would be screaming. Normally bullets in no danger of making contact with the heart or other vital organs would be left inside, however if this one was poisoned, it needed to come out.

"Siegfried. This is Armin, are you safe?" Finally, a response, "Bernard made it here." Siegfried dry heaved as he pulled the bullet closer to the surface, dislodging it from bone and hearing flesh tear.

"I'm alright." He wretched again, the bullet was visible now, blood rolling out of the open wound, "I'm pulling out the bullet. Mom passed out." His voice was hoarse, on the verge of tears. "She said there was poison, and got me a medical kit… Is there medicine in here?" What was behind the combination lock? Surely drugs.

"Poison?" Armin passed, presumably to communicate with those around him, "We are on out way, get that bullet out."

"I'm trying!" He paused, having the bullet completely ready to extract. More flesh was going to tear on its exit, he had to brace himself. "Gosh mom, I'm so sorry." He yanked it out and immediately got to work on cleaning the wound, shoving cotton gauze around the edges of the wound. "What do I do?"

"I don't know." He wasn't a doctor. "If the bullet is out, that's the best you can-"

"No, that's not good enough!"

"Siegfried! Until we know what the poison is, we can't do anything."

He nodded, that made sense. "I know…" Until his eyes fell onto several feet of intravenous tubing in the box, "No, it's not." He coiled his sleeved above his elbows, disinfecting his arm.

"Sieg, what are you doing?" He didn't bother responding, Armin wouldn't approve. He studied Hanji's expression, lips turning purple. The poison was already in her blood, and her liver and kidneys couldn't filter it out fast enough. "Don't do anything stupid! I'm coming right now, I've sent for doctors already." Perhaps two sets of organs could do the job, "Siegfried, answer me! This is an order! Are you alright?"

He braced himself as he slid a needle into his cubital vein, in the crook of his arm. "Don't spasm." He placed another into one of his arteries, repeating the setup on Hanji. "Armin. Please get here quickly." He connected the two sets of tubing, and red blood began to flow freely between the two. Waves of nausea consumed him, dry heaving into the stream. The radio buzzed as his world vibrated, Siegfried was seizing and slipping out of consciousness. It all went black.

* * *

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